KUALA LUMPUR (May 16): The FBM KLCI fell 7.05 points or 0.4% as investors continued selling Malaysian equities in anticipation of the reduction of Malaysian stocks' weightage in the Morgan Stanley Composite Index (MSCI).

At 5pm today, the KLCI closed at 1,621.21 points. Last Friday, the KLCI fell 20.72 points to end at 1,628.26 points, as investors responded to news that Malaysian stocks' weightage in the MSCI Emerging Market index would be cut to 3.09% from 3.43%.

Today, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd technical analyst Loui Low Ley Yee said there was cautious sentiment among investors.

Besides the MSCI tweak, he said investors were also eyeing Malaysian corporate financials and the ringgit. The ringgit strengthened to  4.0273 at 5 p.m. after an intraday range of 4.0215 to 4.0469.

“Right now, people are cautious. Foreigners sold off RM1 billion worth of equities last week. So overall, the sentiment is still quite weak.

“I think people are selling off, ahead of the results season,” Low told theedgemarkets.com.

Across Bursa Malaysia, decliners led gainers by 539 to 250. Volume was 1.7 billion shares, valued at RM1.69 billion.

Top decliner was Cahya Mata Sarawak Bhd, while leading gainer was Hong Leong Industries Bhd. Most active was newly-listed LKL International Bhd.

Asian shares rose. Japan's Nikkei 225 climbed 0.33%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was 0.84% higher.

Reuters reported buoyant Japanese stocks led Asian stocks to modest gains on Monday, helping offset some of the gloom from soft Chinese data. Meanwhile, the dollar firmed against the euro and yen, after receiving a boost from upbeat U.S. indicators.